Posted by Xevious on June 8, 2002, at 12:45:36
In reply to Re: dopamine depletion: Question, posted by Iago Camboa on June 8, 2002, at 10:23:40
This isn't my area of expertise (yet), but I'll comment anyway based on my knowledge...
Each individual has their own tolerances to drug-induced neurotoxicity. Unfortunately, the only way that you can find out is by comparing yourself against another user after the damage has already been done. There are probably many other confounding factors as well, from diet to general neurological stress to (let's go really pseudoscientific here) astral alignment. The point is that no one really knows how you will respond to neuroaffective drugs until after you've tried them. (One of the reasons why there are so many different SSRIs, for example.)
Could your amphetamine (I assume you mean meth?) use have comingled with other factors to help precipitate your current depressive disorder? Possibly, but it would be hard to tell without the benefit of a SPECT scan, and even then the results would be sketchy. Scanners can't go back in time, you see... try again in another twenty years! ;)
Something that is truly frightening to me is some of the research findings that I've read on the neurotoxicity of Aspartame (NutraSweet brand sweetener). Given some of the low dosages that have been shown to cause nerve damage in lab rats, I hate to think about what the six-soda a day folks are doing to their brains! I've sworn off of artificail sweeteners... only sugar and stevia for this kid!
> > So could 2 1/2 years of regular (weekly) amphetamine use have caused my depression? And in that case, is it not going to get better?
> >
> > I don't know whether this can be the case (that it was the only cause) because I believe I have had a mood disorder from childhood.
>
> Please be sure that only many years of huge daily (not weekly) doses of amphetamine could have caused any sensible damage to your neurons, so don't be scared about it.
>
> Iago
poster:Xevious
thread:108807
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020602/msgs/109166.html